Cabinet divided on homeland department

A federal cabinet split has re-emerged over plans for a US-style Department of Homeland Security.

Since 2007 the idea of a mega-department to tackle terrorism has been floated several times by Labor and coalition governments.

Ahead of the May budget, the plan to bring together agencies within the attorney-general and immigration departments is again being floated, with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton reportedly behind the fresh push.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ducked the issue when questioned on it in Jakarta on the sidelines of a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and a regional summit.

"I am not going to comment on speculation about administrative arrangements," Mr Turnbull said on Tuesday.

When he was opposition leader, Mr Turnbull described Labor's decision to drop the planned mega-department as "one broken promise for which we can all be very thankful".

He described an Australian homeland security department as "a cheap copy of an American experiment".

Related Articles

Those advocating the change say it will improve coordination of counter-terrorism policy across the government.

The idea re-emerged under Tony Abbott.

However, it was dropped when a January 2015 review of Australia's counter-terrorism machinery found a super agency "would likely be less, not more, responsive as large agencies tend to be less agile, less adaptable and more inward looking than smaller departments".

The review also supported the attorney-general retaining oversight and responsibility for the Australia Security Intelligence Organisation.

It is understood Attorney-General George Brandis stands by the review's findings.

Special Minister of State Scott Ryan said the prime minister had commissioned a wide-ranging review of security agencies - the first of its kind in more than five years.

"But it is important to emphasise to everyone how effective our security and intelligence arrangements are at the moment," Senator Ryan told Sky News on Tuesday.

"It is a matter of constant vigilance but we do have good cooperation and I think it's important that the specific portfolio minister speak to further detail on those issues."

Labor leader Bill Shorten said the government should talk to the opposition if it was serious about overhauling national security, rather than float ideas in the media.

"Someone has chosen to leak it for whatever reasons to suit the internal divisions of the Liberal party," Mr Shorten said in the north Queensland city of Mackay.

Labor frontbencher Matt Thistlethwaite described it as a thought bubble.

"It appears some in the coalition think it's Peter Dutton angling for more power and superiority in the cabinet. If that's the reason it's being done, obviously we're going to have some difficulty with that," he said.